First Hard Evidence for the Process of Cat Domestication

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First Hard Evidence for the Process of Cat Domestication

Posted by Unknown on Monday December 16, 2013 @08:04PM from the mittens-will-eat-you-when-you-die dept.

sciencehabit writes "Cats have been part of human society for nearly 10,000 years, but they weren't always string-chasers and lap-sitters. Ancient felines hunted crop-destroying rats and mice for early farmers, and in return we provided food and protection. At least that's what scientists have long speculated. Now, they can back it up. Cat bones unearthed in a 5000-year-old Chinese farming village indicate that the animals consumed rodents and that some may have been cared for by humans. The findings provide the earliest hard evidence of this mutually beneficial relationship between man and cat."

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Backwards by AmiMoJo · 2013-12-16 20:14 · Score: 5, Funny

These guys have it the wrong way around. Humans didn't domesticate cats, cats domesticated humans. Within about half an hour of yge first cat realizing it could get foods and grooming from a human just by looking cute and rubbing against their legs every nowand then it made the human its servant and lived a life of leisure. I bet it never bothered to kill anything that wasn't within a law's length of it again.

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
1. Re:Backwards by AmiMoJo · 2013-12-16 20:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I must apologize for the above post. I'd like to claim that a cat walked over my keyboard but the reality is that autocorrect did its usual amazing job.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
2. Re:Backwards by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · 2013-12-16 20:52 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  You may be more right than you think: a scientist has proposed the theory that toxoplasmosis carried by cats affects everything we feel and do.
  
  --
  "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
3. Re:Backwards by reboot246 · 2013-12-16 21:52 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Indeed. Cats don't have owners. They have staff.
4. Re: Backwards by KiloByte · 2013-12-17 02:08 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Oh dear god, only the insane idiot would want to keep intact female cats. The incessant yowling will make you kill things.
  How is that different from human females? *duck*
  
  --
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5. Re: Backwards by dgatwood · 2013-12-17 03:38 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Sounds like you need a cat door that unlocks only when the cat isn't carrying anything.
  
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6. Re:Backwards by mcgrew · 2013-12-17 06:10 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Only weak humans are domesticated by their cats. My cats obey my orders; they come when called and a sharply worded "OUT!" makes them leave the room. I once taught a cat to play dead when I pointed my finger at him and said "bang". You simply have to understand cat psychology and their instincts and other motivations.
  As to hunting, a cat doesn't consider hunting a job. To a cat, chasing things is the funnest thing in the world, even a laser pointer. My cat has made it clear that she understands where the red dot comes from, but she still likes to chase it (the other one is elderly and no longer plays).
  
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  Free Martian Whores!
Not entirely mutually beneficial... by tlambert · 2013-12-16 20:21 · Score: 4, Interesting

Not entirely mutually beneficial... Toxoplasma gondii parasites, anyone?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/220113-sneaky-cat-parasite-takes-over-human-brains-science/
And once infected, you are twice as likely to get in a car accident, among other negative effects.
1. Re:Not entirely mutually beneficial... by crimson+tsunami · 2013-12-16 20:34 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  summary says 5,000 years ago, so dinosaur accidents then :)
Cats, domesticated ?? by baileydau · 2013-12-16 20:51 · Score: 5, Funny

BS.
I've got one on my desk right now proving it certainly isn't domesticated. She's trying to eat everything in sight. Our other one has previously chewed right through my phone charging cable.
The difference between cats and dogs:
A dog thinks: You feed me, you house me, you look after me. You must be a god.
A cat thinks: You feed me, you house me, you look after me. I must be a god.

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Ever stop to think ... and forget to start again?
1. Re:Cats, domesticated ?? by Opportunist · 2013-12-16 21:48 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  In other words, the cat trained you through negative reinforcement.
  
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  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Re:Stop blaming autocorrect! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-16 21:37 · Score: 3, Funny

I have lots of strange abbreviations in my personal dictionary.
Re:Stop blaming autocorrect! by alexhs · 2013-12-16 22:19 · Score: 5, Funny

There is a reason you get are forced to preview your post before submitting.
And Muphry's law still applies :)

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Re:Stop blaming autocorrect! by Paradise+Pete · 2013-12-16 22:24 · Score: 5, Funny

And Muphry's law still applies
I see waht you did there.
Sensation! by nospam007 · 2013-12-16 22:48 · Score: 3, Funny

"Cat bones unearthed in a 5000-year-old Chinese farming village indicate that the animals consumed rodents "
Finally, that burning question "do cats eat mice?' can finally be laid to rest.
Cats do eat mice!
1. Re:Sensation! by gtall · 2013-12-17 04:43 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Ya, I'd recommend Siamese to anyone, but I'm unsure what happens if you do not get them as kittens. Kittens will bond to you at 6-7 weeks. My Siamese wanted to be near me whenever I was at home, climbing on me, curling up, anything to get close. I guess they are more talkative than the average moggie. Mine lived to 17 years, and I was heartbroken when they went to the Great Food Bowl in the Sky.
  The oddest thing happened during their last days. Tinkerbell was on her last life and would curl up near my face at night with her head on my arm. Ariel slept down at the foot where they both usually slept until Tinkerbell got sick. The last night Tinkerbell was with us (I had planned to take her in for the final vet visit the following day, she was really near the end), Ariel came up and was inconsolable, stayed near Tinkerbell that whole night side by side. The following night, when Tinkerbell was no more, Ariel came up and cuddled up just like Tinkerbell had done.
Re:They weren't petting animals until recently? by VortexCortex · 2013-12-17 00:19 · Score: 4, Funny

There is no proof we have actually been domesticating cats as petting animals for more than a few hundred years. Until the 19th century or so
Quick now, Jeeves, fetch the net! I've spotted a rare young-earth Egyptianist.
Cats and editor religious wars by thogard · 2013-12-17 02:00 · Score: 5, Funny

While I agree that competent users of vi or emacs can all do the same things, I feel that the major difference between the two is related to what happens when a cat walks on the keyboard.